Request for Information Regarding the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority, 19286-19289 [2023-06697]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 62 / Friday, March 31, 2023 / Notices
review, in Section I: Program
Information.
• Five new multiple choice questions
in Section VII: Teacher Shortages and
Teacher Preparation, which are
replacing three open text items.
• A new ‘‘other’’ response option for
a multiple choice item in Section IX:
Improvement Efforts.
• A new multiple choice and open
text item in Section IX: Improvement
Efforts.
• A new section (Section X) about the
impact of COVID–19. The section would
have three questions in the first data
collection year in which it is
implemented, due to retrospective
questions going back to academic year
2019–20, but only one question in
subsequent data collection years.
• Minor revisions to the gender and
race/ethnicity categories in Section I:
Program Information.
Dated: March 27, 2023.
Kun Mullan,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and
Clearance, Governance and Strategy Division,
Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of
Planning, Evaluation and Policy
Development.
[FR Doc. 2023–06667 Filed 3–30–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket No.: ED–2023–SCC–0054]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Comment Request; Grant
Reallotment
Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services (OSERS),
Department of Education (ED).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of
1995, the Department is proposing an
extension without change of a currently
approved information collection request
(ICR).
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before May 30,
2023.
ADDRESSES: To access and review all the
documents related to the information
collection listed in this notice, please
use https://www.regulations.gov by
searching the Docket ID number ED–
2023–SCC–0054. Comments submitted
in response to this notice should be
submitted electronically through the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://
www.regulations.gov by selecting the
Docket ID number or via postal mail,
commercial delivery, or hand delivery.
If the regulations.gov site is not
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available to the public for any reason,
the Department will temporarily accept
comments at ICDocketMgr@ed.gov.
Please include the docket ID number
and the title of the information
collection request when requesting
documents or submitting comments.
Please note that comments submitted
after the comment period will not be
accepted. Written requests for
information or comments submitted by
postal mail or delivery should be
addressed to the Manager of the
Strategic Collections and Clearance
Governance and Strategy Division, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Ave. SW, LBJ, Room 6W203,
Washington, DC 20202–8240.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
specific questions related to collection
activities, please contact David Steele,
202–245–6520.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Department, in accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA)
(44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the
general public and Federal agencies
with an opportunity to comment on
proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps
the Department assess the impact of its
information collection requirements and
minimize the public’s reporting burden.
It also helps the public understand the
Department’s information collection
requirements and provide the requested
data in the desired format. The
Department is soliciting comments on
the proposed information collection
request (ICR) that is described below.
The Department is especially interested
in public comment addressing the
following issues: (1) is this collection
necessary to the proper functions of the
Department; (2) will this information be
processed and used in a timely manner;
(3) is the estimate of burden accurate;
(4) how might the Department enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (5) how
might the Department minimize the
burden of this collection on the
respondents, including through the use
of information technology. Please note
that written comments received in
response to this notice will be
considered public records.
Title of Collection: Grant Reallotment.
OMB Control Number: 1820–0692.
Type of Review: An extension without
change of a currently approved ICR.
Respondents/Affected Public: State,
Local and Tribal Governments.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Responses: 323.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Burden Hours: 11.
Abstract: The Rehabilitation Act of
1973, as amended (the Act), authorizes
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the Rehabilitation Services
Administration (RSA) Commissioner to
reallot to other grant recipients that
portion of a recipient’s annual grant that
cannot be used. To maximize the use of
appropriated funds under the formula
grant programs, RSA has established a
reallotment process for the State
Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VR);
State Supported Employment Services
(Supported Employment); Independent
Living Services for Older Individuals
Who Are Blind (OIB); Client Assistance
Program (CAP); and Protection and
Advocacy of Individual Rights (PAIR)
programs. The authority for RSA to
reallot formula grant funds is found at
sections 110(b)(2) (VR), 622(b)
(Supported Employment), 752(i)(4)
(OIB), 112(e)(2) (CAP), and 509(e)
(PAIR) of the Act.
The information will be used by the
RSA State Monitoring and Program
Improvement Division (SMPID) to
reallot formula grant funds for the
awards mentioned above.
Dated: March 27, 2023.
Juliana Pearson,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and
Clearance, Governance and Strategy Division,
Office of Chief Data Officer, Office of
Planning, Evaluation and Policy
Development.
[FR Doc. 2023–06625 Filed 3–30–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED–2023–OESE–0043]
Request for Information Regarding the
Innovative Assessment Demonstration
Authority
Office of Elementary and
Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Request for information.
AGENCY:
The Department of Education
(Department) is requesting information
on successful approaches to innovative
assessment implementation that can
encourage State educational agencies
(SEAs) to pursue the Innovative
Assessment Demonstration Authority
(IADA) and improve statewide
assessments. We will use this
information to inform our
implementation of IADA, under title I,
part B of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965, as amended by
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA).
DATES: We must receive your comments
on or before May 1, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to
this request for information (RFI)
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
SUMMARY:
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at regulations.gov. Information on using
Regulations.gov, including instructions
for accessing agency documents,
submitting comments, and viewing the
docket, is available on the site, under
‘‘FAQ.’’ Comments submitted by hand
delivery, fax, email, or after the
comment period will not be accepted.
However, if you require an
accommodation or cannot otherwise
submit your comments via
regulations.gov, please contact the
program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. To
ensure that the Department does not
receive duplicate copies, please submit
your comments only one time. To
ensure that your comments have
maximum effect in informing the
Department’s knowledge base of
innovations in assessments, we
encourage you to clearly identify the
question number that each comment
addresses. Additionally, please include
the Docket ID at the top of your
comments.
Privacy Note: The Department’s
policy is generally to make comments
received from members of the public
available for public viewing on the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
commenters should be careful to
include in their comments only
information that they wish to make
publicly available. Commenters should
not include in their comments any
information that identifies other
individuals or that permits readers to
identify other individuals. The
Department reserves the right to redact
at any time any information that
identifies other individuals, includes
information that would allow readers to
identify other individuals, or includes
threats of harm to another person.
This is an RFI only. This RFI is not
a request for proposals (RFP) or a
promise to issue an RFP or a notice
inviting applications. This RFI does not
commit the Department to contract for
any supply or service whatsoever.
Further, we are not seeking proposals
and will not accept unsolicited
proposals. The Department will not pay
for any information or administrative
costs that you may incur in responding
to this RFI. The documents and
information submitted in response to
this RFI become the property of the U.S.
Government and will not be returned.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or
have a speech disability and wish to
access telecommunications relay
services, please dial 7–1–1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ESEA
requires annual assessments of all
students in grades 3–8 and assessments
of students once in high school. When
developed thoughtfully, these
assessments are tools for advancing
learning and promoting equity. When
assessments are done poorly, in excess,
or without a clear purpose, they divert
time and resources from teaching and
learning. The ESEA affords States
important discretion in implementing
assessment systems, including the
opportunity to pilot new approaches or
designs in summative assessments
through IADA.
IADA is authorized in section 1204 of
the ESEA, and the implementing
regulations for IADA are found in 34
CFR 200.104 through 34 CFR 200.108.1
IADA regulations address the following
topics: definitions (§ 200.104);
application requirements (§ 200.105);
selection criteria (§ 200.106); transition
to statewide use (§ 200.107); and
extensions, waivers, and withdrawal of
authority (§ 200.108).
IADA seeks to help States interested
in fostering and scaling up high-quality,
innovative assessments that will replace
their current summative assessments.
An SEA would require this
demonstration authority if the SEA
proposes to develop an innovative
assessment in any grade or subject that
requires academic assessments (section
1111(b)(2)(B) of the ESEA).
Additionally, the SEA seeking IADA
must first administer the assessment,
initially, to students in only a subset of
its local educational agencies (LEAs) or
schools. Under IADA, schools
participating in a pilot assessment
would not have to also administer the
current statewide assessment in that
grade or subject to all students in those
LEAs or schools. The State will scale up
the innovative assessment over time,
eventually using it statewide at the end
of the demonstration authority. During
the period of the demonstration
authority, the results of IADA
assessment must be used in the State’s
accountability system and the results
must be included on State and local
report cards.
Since 2018, five States have been
awarded IADA.2 Most recently, in 2021,
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Patrick Rooney, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW,
Room 3W202, Washington, DC 20202.
Telephone: (202) 453–5514. Email:
patrick.rooney@ed.gov.
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1 See: www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/
chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-groupECFR9277b2b0db822d9?toc=1.
2 New Hampshire and Louisiana in 2018; Georgia
and North Carolina in 2019; and Massachusetts in
2020. Applications and Annual Reports from these
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the Department provided States with an
opportunity 3 to apply for the IADA, but
no States applied. The Department has
received informal feedback from several
States and stakeholders that one reason
SEAs are reluctant to apply for IADA
stems from perceived barriers within the
current IADA regulations.
Section 1204(b)(2) of the ESEA
establishes the five-year period for the
demonstration authority, and ESEA
section 1204(g) provides the Department
with the discretion to extend the
authority for an additional two years (if
certain conditions are met as specified
in 34 CFR 200.108(a)(1)). The ESEA
further permits the Secretary to grant
additional waivers to a State to extend
the State’s IADA authority, and the
Department’s regulations clarify that
such waivers would be granted one year
at a time.4 Section 1204(e)(2)(A)(iv) of
the ESEA requires that the State’s
application must demonstrate that the
innovative assessment system will
include valid and reliable results that
are comparable to all students and for
each subgroup of students described in
section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), as compared to
the results for such students on the State
assessments under section 1111(b)(2).
The Department has heard concerns that
the regulations confine State ability to
meet this comparability requirement in
the statute such that it stifles innovation
in new assessments. Section
200.105(b)(4)(i) currently provides the
following five options for a State to meet
the comparability requirement in the
ESEA:
(A) Administering full assessments
from both the innovative and statewide
assessment systems to all students
enrolled in participating schools, such
that at least once in any grade span (i.e.,
3–5, 6–8, or 9–12) and subject for which
there is an innovative assessment, a
statewide assessment in the same
subject would also be administered to
all such students. As part of this
determination, the innovative
assessment and statewide assessment
need not be administered to an
individual student in the same school
year.
(B) Administering full assessments
from both the innovative and statewide
assessment systems to a
demographically representative sample
of all students and subgroups of
students described in section 1111(c)(2)
States are available at: https://oese.ed.gov/offices/
office-of-formula-grants/school-support-andaccountability/iada/.
3 See: www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/
2021-00882/applications-for-new-authoritiesinnovative-assessment-demonstration-authority.
4 See: ESEA section 1204(j)(3) and 34 CFR
200.108(c)(2).
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of the Act, from among those students
enrolled in participating schools, such
that at least once in any grade span (i.e.,
3–5, 6–8, or 9–12) and subject for which
there is an innovative assessment, a
statewide assessment in the same
subject would also be administered in
the same school year to all students
included in the sample.
(C) Including, as a significant portion
of the innovative assessment system in
each required grade and subject in
which both an innovative and statewide
assessment are administered, items or
performance tasks from the statewide
assessment system that, at a minimum,
have been previously pilot tested or
field tested for use in the statewide
assessment system.
(D) Including, as a significant portion
of the statewide assessment system in
each required grade and subject in
which both an innovative and statewide
assessment are administered, items or
performance tasks from the innovative
assessment system that, at a minimum,
have been previously pilot tested or
field tested for use in the innovative
assessment system.
(E) An alternative method for
demonstrating comparability that an
SEA can demonstrate will provide for
an equally rigorous and statistically
valid comparison between student
performance on the innovative
assessment and the statewide
assessment, including for each subgroup
of students described in section
200.2(b)(11)(i)(A)–(I) and section
1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) and section
1111(h)(1)(C)(ii) of the Act.
The Department is seeking comments
on whether these five approaches are
sufficient to support States as they
consider developing an assessment for
implementation under the IADA
authority, what additional examples or
models of measuring comparability the
Department should consider, and
information about ideas or practices
States might use to demonstrate
comparability under section
200.105(b)(4)(i)(E).
In addition, current IADA regulations
do not specify a timeline by which a
State approved under IADA must begin
to administer an operational IADA
assessment in some schools or LEAs.
Accordingly, the Department is seeking
comments on whether the Department
approving a State for IADA that
includes a planning period would be
helpful to the State in its development
work.
We will review every comment and,
as described above, electronic
comments in response to this RFI will
be publicly available on the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at
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www.regulations.gov. Please note that
the Department will not directly
acknowledge or respond to comments,
including comments that contain
specific questions or inquiries. Receipt
of comments in response to this request
for information does not imply that the
Department has decided to issue
guidance, technical assistance, or other
resources.
Detailed Questions: The Department
invites stakeholders who are aware of
policies and practices in educational
assessment that are specifically relevant
for innovation to address the following
questions in their comments.
1. The Department is interested in
whether there are additional
considerations or approaches to
comparability, whether through changes
to current IADA regulations or
additional guidance (for elaborating on
the ‘‘other method’’ in section
200.105(b)(4)(i)(E)), for the innovative
assessment.
a. Are there other methodologies that
could be used as models to provide
comparable results to current statewide
assessments without compromising the
innovative nature of the new
assessments?
b. Are there ways that a State could
plan for an orderly transition from using
the achievement standards for the
current statewide assessments to
achievement standards for the
innovative assessment as it scales to
statewide use?
c. We note that ESEA section
1204(e)(2)(A)(iv) states that the IADA
‘‘generate results that are valid and
reliable, and comparable, for all
students and for each subgroup of
students described in section
1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), as compared to the
results for such students on the State
assessments under section 1111(b)(2);’’
and ESEA section 1204(e)(2)(A)(x) states
that the IADA ‘‘generate an annual,
summative achievement determination,
based on the aligned State academic
achievement standards under section
1111(b)(1) and based on annual data, for
each individual student.’’ Within these
statutory requirements, are there other
issues with respect to comparability that
the Department should clarify, either in
regulation or guidance to help states
meet this requirement? Please be
specific in: (a) describing the issue; (b)
identifying the proposed change to
address the issue; and (c) identifying
how the change will lead to a State
being more likely to apply for IADA.
2. Current IADA regulations do not
specify a timeline by which a State
approved under IADA must administer
an operational IADA assessment in
some schools or LEAs.
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a. Would a State be more likely to
submit an IADA application if the
Department explicitly provided one or
two planning years, after the granting of
IADA authority, before the State first
administers an operational IADA
assessment in some schools or LEAs?
b. Noting that the State would need to
have enough detail about its plan for the
Department to grant IADA approval or
pre-approval, please describe the benefit
to the State that would be provided with
one or two years of planning time as
well as suggestions for the types of
activities the State would undertake
during the planning time?
3. Please describe any other barriers
in the Department’s regulations that
might preclude a State from applying for
IADA. Please be specific in: (a)
identifying the regulatory provision; (b)
describing the issue; (c) identifying the
proposed change to address the issue;
and (d) identifying how the change will
lead to a State being more likely to
apply for IADA.
In providing feedback, commenters
are encouraged to cite published
research on promising practices and
methodologies for innovative
assessment design and implementation.
The Department is committed to
improving the public’s access to, and
the discoverability of, education
research. In service of that goal, we
encourage responders to share any
publications with us and we invite
authors, those who hold copyright, or
their authorized representatives to
consider depositing eligible content into
ERIC, the Institute of Education
Sciences’ bibliographic and full-text
database of education research (https://
eric.ed.gov/). More information about
submitting content to ERIC, including
our selection policy and how to access
the online submission portal, can be
found at https://eric.ed.gov/submit/.
Accessible Format: On request to the
program contact person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT,
individuals with disabilities can obtain
this document in an accessible format.
The Department will provide the
requestor with an accessible format that
may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or
text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3
file, braille, large print, audiotape, or
compact disc, or other accessible format.
Electronic Access to This Document:
The official version of this document is
the document published in the Federal
Register. You may access the official
edition of the Federal Register and the
Code of Federal Regulations at
www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can
view this document, as well as all other
documents of this Department
published in the Federal Register, in
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text or Portable Document Format
(PDF). To use PDF, you must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department. The Department is
committed to making its publications
available to all members of the public.
If you have difficulty understanding
English, you may, free of charge, request
language assistance services for
Department information by calling 1–
800–USA–LEARN (1–800–872–5327)
(TTY: 1–800–877–8339) or email us at
Ed.Language.Assistance@ed.gov.
James F. Lane,
Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary
Delegated the Authority to Perform the
Functions and Duties of the Assistant
Secretary Office of Elementary and Secondary
Education, U.S. Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2023–06697 Filed 3–30–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Peer Review Opportunities With the
U.S. Department of Education’s Office
of Career, Technical, and Adult
Education (OCTAE); Office of
Elementary and Secondary Education
(OESE); Office of English Language
Acquisition (OELA); Office of
Postsecondary Education (OPE); and
Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
Office of Career, Technical, and
Adult Education; Office of Elementary
and Secondary Education; Office of
English Language Acquisition; Office of
Postsecondary Education; and Office of
Special Education and Rehabilitative
Services, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Department of
Education (Department) announces
opportunities for individuals to
participate in its peer review process for
competitive grant funding under the
programs administered by OCTAE,
OESE, OELA, OPE, and OSERS.
DATES: Requests to serve as a peer
reviewer for fiscal year 2023 will be
accepted on an ongoing basis, aligned
with this year’s grant competition
schedule. Requests to serve as a peer
reviewer should be submitted at least
four weeks prior to the program’s
application deadline noted on the
Department’s website under ‘‘Forecast
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of Funding Opportunities’’ at
www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/find/edliteforecast.html. This notice highlights the
specific needs of OCTAE, OESE, OELA,
OPE, and OSERS.
ADDRESSES: An individual interested in
serving as a peer reviewer must register
and upload his or her resume in the
Department’s grants management
system known as ‘‘G5’’ at www.g5.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
OCTAE: Daphnne Bonaparte, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue SW, Room 10–358, Potomac
Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202–
5076. Telephone: (202) 987–1561.
Email: CTE@ed.gov.
OESE: Andrew Brake, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue SW, Room 3W344, Washington,
DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 453–6136.
Email: andrew.brake@ed.gov.
OELA: Celeste McLaughlin, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland
Avenue SW, Room H3214, Potomac
Center Plaza, Washington, DC 20202–
5076. Telephone: (202) 245–7693.
Email: NAM@ed.gov.
OPE: Tonya Hardin, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue
SW, Room 2C205, Washington, DC
20202. Telephone: (202) 453–7694.
Email: tonya.hardin@ed.gov.
OSERS: Kate Friday, U.S. Department
of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue
SW, Room 5081B, Potomac Center
Plaza, Washington, DC 20202–5076.
Telephone: (202) 245–7605. Email:
kate.friday@ed.gov.
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or
have a speech disability and wish to
access telecommunications relay
services, please dial 7–1–1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
mission of the Department is to promote
student achievement and preparation
for global competitiveness by fostering
educational excellence and ensuring
equal access. The Department pursues
its mission by funding grant programs
that will improve access to high-quality
educational opportunities and programs
that pursue innovations in teaching and
learning with a focus on underserved
students. The Department also funds
programs in other areas as authorized by
statute. Grant funds are awarded to State
educational agencies; local educational
agencies (i.e., school districts); State,
local, or Tribal governments; nonprofit
organizations; institutions of higher
education; and other entities through a
competitive process referred to as a
grant competition.
Each year the Department convenes
panels of external education
professionals and practitioners to serve
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19289
as peer reviewers.1 Peer reviewers
evaluate and score submitted
applications against competitionspecific criteria and announced
priorities. Application scores are then
used to inform the Secretary’s funding
decisions.
Executive Order 13985, Advancing
Racial Equity and Support for
Underserved Communities Through the
Federal Government, directs Federal
agencies to ‘‘assess whether
underserved communities and their
members face systemic barriers in
accessing benefits and opportunities
available pursuant to those policies and
programs.’’ The Department is
committed to increasing the racial and
ethnic diversity of peer reviewers—an
important element of the Department’s
efforts to implement this Executive
order. Moreover, the Department is
particularly interested in peer reviewers
who represent diverse experiences and
perspectives, including experiences
working with diverse and underserved
communities, and whose expertise
pertains to OCTAE, OESE, OELA, OPE,
and OSERS grant competitions, and this
emphasis on increasing peer reviewer
diversity is included in the
Department’s Agency Equity Plan,
available at www2.ed.gov/documents/
equity/2022-equity-plan.pdf.
This year, OCTAE is managing one
grant competition: Career-Connected
High School Initiative.
This year, OESE is managing
approximately 25 grant competitions to
fund a range of projects that support,
education innovation and research;
educator growth and diversity; magnet
schools; charter schools; literacy;
history and civics; family engagement;
community schools; Indian education;
school infrastructure; and out-of-school
time learning, among others.
OELA is managing one grant
competition: Native American and
Alaska Native Children in School
Program.
OPE is managing approximately 20
grant competitions to fund a wide range
of projects, including projects to support
improvements in educational quality,
management, and financial stability at
colleges and universities that enroll
high numbers of underserved students;
projects designed to increase college
enrollment among students in highpoverty schools; projects designed to
1 Please note that the Institute of Education
Sciences (IES) uses different peer review processes
and procedures than those described in this notice.
More information on the IES peer review process
can be found at: https://ies.ed.gov/director/sro/
application_review.asp. IES also administers its
research grant competitions on a different timeline
from other offices in the Department.
E:\FR\FM\31MRN1.SGM
31MRN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19286-19289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06697]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED-2023-OESE-0043]
Request for Information Regarding the Innovative Assessment
Demonstration Authority
AGENCY: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of
Education.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Education (Department) is requesting
information on successful approaches to innovative assessment
implementation that can encourage State educational agencies (SEAs) to
pursue the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) and
improve statewide assessments. We will use this information to inform
our implementation of IADA, under title I, part B of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESEA).
DATES: We must receive your comments on or before May 1, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to this request for information (RFI)
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
[[Page 19287]]
at regulations.gov. Information on using Regulations.gov, including
instructions for accessing agency documents, submitting comments, and
viewing the docket, is available on the site, under ``FAQ.'' Comments
submitted by hand delivery, fax, email, or after the comment period
will not be accepted. However, if you require an accommodation or
cannot otherwise submit your comments via regulations.gov, please
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. To ensure that the Department does not receive duplicate
copies, please submit your comments only one time. To ensure that your
comments have maximum effect in informing the Department's knowledge
base of innovations in assessments, we encourage you to clearly
identify the question number that each comment addresses. Additionally,
please include the Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Privacy Note: The Department's policy is generally to make comments
received from members of the public available for public viewing on the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only
information that they wish to make publicly available. Commenters
should not include in their comments any information that identifies
other individuals or that permits readers to identify other
individuals. The Department reserves the right to redact at any time
any information that identifies other individuals, includes information
that would allow readers to identify other individuals, or includes
threats of harm to another person.
This is an RFI only. This RFI is not a request for proposals (RFP)
or a promise to issue an RFP or a notice inviting applications. This
RFI does not commit the Department to contract for any supply or
service whatsoever. Further, we are not seeking proposals and will not
accept unsolicited proposals. The Department will not pay for any
information or administrative costs that you may incur in responding to
this RFI. The documents and information submitted in response to this
RFI become the property of the U.S. Government and will not be
returned.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Rooney, U.S. Department of
Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Room 3W202, Washington, DC 20202.
Telephone: (202) 453-5514. Email: [email protected].
If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability and
wish to access telecommunications relay services, please dial 7-1-1.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ESEA requires annual assessments of all
students in grades 3-8 and assessments of students once in high school.
When developed thoughtfully, these assessments are tools for advancing
learning and promoting equity. When assessments are done poorly, in
excess, or without a clear purpose, they divert time and resources from
teaching and learning. The ESEA affords States important discretion in
implementing assessment systems, including the opportunity to pilot new
approaches or designs in summative assessments through IADA.
IADA is authorized in section 1204 of the ESEA, and the
implementing regulations for IADA are found in 34 CFR 200.104 through
34 CFR 200.108.\1\ IADA regulations address the following topics:
definitions (Sec. 200.104); application requirements (Sec. 200.105);
selection criteria (Sec. 200.106); transition to statewide use (Sec.
200.107); and extensions, waivers, and withdrawal of authority (Sec.
200.108).
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\1\ See: www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFR9277b2b0db822d9?toc=1.
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IADA seeks to help States interested in fostering and scaling up
high-quality, innovative assessments that will replace their current
summative assessments. An SEA would require this demonstration
authority if the SEA proposes to develop an innovative assessment in
any grade or subject that requires academic assessments (section
1111(b)(2)(B) of the ESEA). Additionally, the SEA seeking IADA must
first administer the assessment, initially, to students in only a
subset of its local educational agencies (LEAs) or schools. Under IADA,
schools participating in a pilot assessment would not have to also
administer the current statewide assessment in that grade or subject to
all students in those LEAs or schools. The State will scale up the
innovative assessment over time, eventually using it statewide at the
end of the demonstration authority. During the period of the
demonstration authority, the results of IADA assessment must be used in
the State's accountability system and the results must be included on
State and local report cards.
Since 2018, five States have been awarded IADA.\2\ Most recently,
in 2021, the Department provided States with an opportunity \3\ to
apply for the IADA, but no States applied. The Department has received
informal feedback from several States and stakeholders that one reason
SEAs are reluctant to apply for IADA stems from perceived barriers
within the current IADA regulations.
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\2\ New Hampshire and Louisiana in 2018; Georgia and North
Carolina in 2019; and Massachusetts in 2020. Applications and Annual
Reports from these States are available at: https://oese.ed.gov/offices/office-of-formula-grants/school-support-and-accountability/iada/.
\3\ See: www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2021-00882/applications-for-new-authorities-innovative-assessment-demonstration-authority.
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Section 1204(b)(2) of the ESEA establishes the five-year period for
the demonstration authority, and ESEA section 1204(g) provides the
Department with the discretion to extend the authority for an
additional two years (if certain conditions are met as specified in 34
CFR 200.108(a)(1)). The ESEA further permits the Secretary to grant
additional waivers to a State to extend the State's IADA authority, and
the Department's regulations clarify that such waivers would be granted
one year at a time.\4\ Section 1204(e)(2)(A)(iv) of the ESEA requires
that the State's application must demonstrate that the innovative
assessment system will include valid and reliable results that are
comparable to all students and for each subgroup of students described
in section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), as compared to the results for such
students on the State assessments under section 1111(b)(2). The
Department has heard concerns that the regulations confine State
ability to meet this comparability requirement in the statute such that
it stifles innovation in new assessments. Section 200.105(b)(4)(i)
currently provides the following five options for a State to meet the
comparability requirement in the ESEA:
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\4\ See: ESEA section 1204(j)(3) and 34 CFR 200.108(c)(2).
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(A) Administering full assessments from both the innovative and
statewide assessment systems to all students enrolled in participating
schools, such that at least once in any grade span (i.e., 3-5, 6-8, or
9-12) and subject for which there is an innovative assessment, a
statewide assessment in the same subject would also be administered to
all such students. As part of this determination, the innovative
assessment and statewide assessment need not be administered to an
individual student in the same school year.
(B) Administering full assessments from both the innovative and
statewide assessment systems to a demographically representative sample
of all students and subgroups of students described in section
1111(c)(2)
[[Page 19288]]
of the Act, from among those students enrolled in participating
schools, such that at least once in any grade span (i.e., 3-5, 6-8, or
9-12) and subject for which there is an innovative assessment, a
statewide assessment in the same subject would also be administered in
the same school year to all students included in the sample.
(C) Including, as a significant portion of the innovative
assessment system in each required grade and subject in which both an
innovative and statewide assessment are administered, items or
performance tasks from the statewide assessment system that, at a
minimum, have been previously pilot tested or field tested for use in
the statewide assessment system.
(D) Including, as a significant portion of the statewide assessment
system in each required grade and subject in which both an innovative
and statewide assessment are administered, items or performance tasks
from the innovative assessment system that, at a minimum, have been
previously pilot tested or field tested for use in the innovative
assessment system.
(E) An alternative method for demonstrating comparability that an
SEA can demonstrate will provide for an equally rigorous and
statistically valid comparison between student performance on the
innovative assessment and the statewide assessment, including for each
subgroup of students described in section 200.2(b)(11)(i)(A)-(I) and
section 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi) and section 1111(h)(1)(C)(ii) of the Act.
The Department is seeking comments on whether these five approaches
are sufficient to support States as they consider developing an
assessment for implementation under the IADA authority, what additional
examples or models of measuring comparability the Department should
consider, and information about ideas or practices States might use to
demonstrate comparability under section 200.105(b)(4)(i)(E).
In addition, current IADA regulations do not specify a timeline by
which a State approved under IADA must begin to administer an
operational IADA assessment in some schools or LEAs. Accordingly, the
Department is seeking comments on whether the Department approving a
State for IADA that includes a planning period would be helpful to the
State in its development work.
We will review every comment and, as described above, electronic
comments in response to this RFI will be publicly available on the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Please note that the
Department will not directly acknowledge or respond to comments,
including comments that contain specific questions or inquiries.
Receipt of comments in response to this request for information does
not imply that the Department has decided to issue guidance, technical
assistance, or other resources.
Detailed Questions: The Department invites stakeholders who are
aware of policies and practices in educational assessment that are
specifically relevant for innovation to address the following questions
in their comments.
1. The Department is interested in whether there are additional
considerations or approaches to comparability, whether through changes
to current IADA regulations or additional guidance (for elaborating on
the ``other method'' in section 200.105(b)(4)(i)(E)), for the
innovative assessment.
a. Are there other methodologies that could be used as models to
provide comparable results to current statewide assessments without
compromising the innovative nature of the new assessments?
b. Are there ways that a State could plan for an orderly transition
from using the achievement standards for the current statewide
assessments to achievement standards for the innovative assessment as
it scales to statewide use?
c. We note that ESEA section 1204(e)(2)(A)(iv) states that the IADA
``generate results that are valid and reliable, and comparable, for all
students and for each subgroup of students described in section
1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), as compared to the results for such students on the
State assessments under section 1111(b)(2);'' and ESEA section
1204(e)(2)(A)(x) states that the IADA ``generate an annual, summative
achievement determination, based on the aligned State academic
achievement standards under section 1111(b)(1) and based on annual
data, for each individual student.'' Within these statutory
requirements, are there other issues with respect to comparability that
the Department should clarify, either in regulation or guidance to help
states meet this requirement? Please be specific in: (a) describing the
issue; (b) identifying the proposed change to address the issue; and
(c) identifying how the change will lead to a State being more likely
to apply for IADA.
2. Current IADA regulations do not specify a timeline by which a
State approved under IADA must administer an operational IADA
assessment in some schools or LEAs.
a. Would a State be more likely to submit an IADA application if
the Department explicitly provided one or two planning years, after the
granting of IADA authority, before the State first administers an
operational IADA assessment in some schools or LEAs?
b. Noting that the State would need to have enough detail about its
plan for the Department to grant IADA approval or pre-approval, please
describe the benefit to the State that would be provided with one or
two years of planning time as well as suggestions for the types of
activities the State would undertake during the planning time?
3. Please describe any other barriers in the Department's
regulations that might preclude a State from applying for IADA. Please
be specific in: (a) identifying the regulatory provision; (b)
describing the issue; (c) identifying the proposed change to address
the issue; and (d) identifying how the change will lead to a State
being more likely to apply for IADA.
In providing feedback, commenters are encouraged to cite published
research on promising practices and methodologies for innovative
assessment design and implementation. The Department is committed to
improving the public's access to, and the discoverability of, education
research. In service of that goal, we encourage responders to share any
publications with us and we invite authors, those who hold copyright,
or their authorized representatives to consider depositing eligible
content into ERIC, the Institute of Education Sciences' bibliographic
and full-text database of education research (https://eric.ed.gov/).
More information about submitting content to ERIC, including our
selection policy and how to access the online submission portal, can be
found at https://eric.ed.gov/submit/.
Accessible Format: On request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file,
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible
format.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations at www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can view this
document, as well as all other documents of this Department published
in the Federal Register, in
[[Page 19289]]
text or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, you must have Adobe
Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department. The Department is committed to making its
publications available to all members of the public. If you have
difficulty understanding English, you may, free of charge, request
language assistance services for Department information by calling 1-
800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327) (TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or email us at
[email protected].
James F. Lane,
Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary Delegated the Authority to
Perform the Functions and Duties of the Assistant Secretary Office of
Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education.
[FR Doc. 2023-06697 Filed 3-30-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
